This application claims the benefit of Korean Application number 2000-51851. This application claims priority of Korean Patent Application No. 2000-51851 which was filed on Sep. 2, 2000.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a device for putt-practice and, more particularly, to a putt-practicing device allowing a user to preset a target putting distance, and sensing the backstroke distance of a putter during an act of putting in accordance with the preset putting distance, thus allowing the user to putt with a precisely backstroke of a putter, the device also sensing the moving velocity of the putted ball during the act of putting to convert the sensed moving velocity into a moving distance of the putted ball prior to informing the user of the moving distance, thereby allowing the user to practice the putting while appropriately changing his/her putting strength in accordance with desired putting distances.
2. Description of the Prior Art
While golfing, it is very important to precisely putt a ball on a green so as to make the ball roll along the green into the hole, in addition to precisely driving the ball to position it on the green using a wood or an iron.
Different from being shown at first sight, the typical greens of golf courses consist of sloping areas and curved areas, and so it is necessary for golfers to carefully putt balls on the green while precisely controlling their putting strengths in consideration of the sloping angles and curved angles of the green, a distance between the ball and the hole, and the height of grasses.
Of the conditions necessarily considered while putting, the putting strength is the most important factor. In order to precisely control the putting strength, it is necessary for a golfer to primarily, precisely calculate the distance between the hole and the ball and control his/her putting strength by precisely performing the backstroke of a putter in accordance with the calculated distance.
Since the putting requires high precision as described above, it is necessary for golfers to repeatedly practice the putting. Most golfers thus purchase indoor putt-practicing devices, and install the devices to easily practice the putting.
The conventional putt-practicing devices typically comprise a mattress laid along the top surface of a base board having a predetermined length, with a guide rail provided along each side of the board for preventing an undesired removal of balls from the board and a hole cup installed at one end of the board to act as the hole of a green. Due to the construction of the conventional putt-practicing devices, the devices only allow users to make themselves familiar with putting stance, but do not allow the users to practice the control of their putting strengths according to target putting distances.
In an effort to overcome the above-mentioned problems, a putt-practicing device designed to sense the hitting strength while putting so as to allow a user to practice the control of putting strength in accordance with target putting distances was proposed in Korean Utility Model Registration No. 152039 (Utility Model Publication No. 1997-53602).
As shown in FIG. 1, the Korean putt-practicing device 100 comprises a lower panel 110, which seats a putting hole unit 112 thereon. The putting hole unit 112 consists of a flat surface 111, opposite sidewalls 113 standing upright along the opposite side edges of the flat surface 111, and a target plate 114 extending between the two sidewalls 113, with a ball guide channel 115 extending from the putting hole unit 112 to a predetermined position on the lower panel 110. The top of the lower panel 110 is covered with an upper casing 120, which has a ball inlet 121, a digital putting distance display 123, and a ball outlet 122. The putt-practicing device 100 also has a sloping member 130, which is mounted to the external surface of the upper casing 120 at a position under the ball inlet 121 by means of two insert pieces 131.
In order to practice putting using the above device 100, a user lays a ball on a ball start mark formed on the mattress, and putts the ball using a putter, The ball thus rolls along the inclined surface of the sloping member 130, and passes through the ball inlet 121 so as to hit and impact the target plate 114 of the putting hole unit 112.
When the target plate 114 is impacted by the putted ball as described above, the device generates a melody. In such a case, an impact sensor of the target plate 114 senses the impact strength of the ball applied to the target plate 114 and converts the impact strength into a distance. The distance is digitized and displayed on the digital distance display 123 of the upper casing 120, thus allowing the user to easily confirm his. putting strength.
The above putt-practicing device 100 is advantageous in that the target plate 114 is installed at the putting hole unit 112, and senses the impact strength of a putted ball at its impact sensor, and converts the impact strength into a distance prior to displaying the digitized distance on the digital distance display 123 of the upper casing 120, thus allowing a user to easily confirm his putting strength.
Since the target plate 114 is installed on the lower panel 110 at a position inside the ball inlet 121 of the upper casing 120, it is necessary for the putted balls to inevitably pass through the ball inlet 121 prior to impacting the target plate 114. However, the size of the ball inlet 121 is too small for the users to putt the balls to pass the balls through the inlet 121 while practicing the putting.
Therefore, when a putted ball fails to pass through the ball inlet 121, the ball does not impact the target plate 114 of the putting hole unit 112, and so the target plate 114 cannot sense the impact strength of the putted ball.
The above putt-practicing device is thus problematic in that it is only effectively used by highly-skilled golfers, such as professional golfers, but may be not effectively used by middle- or lowly-skilled golfers.
Another problem experienced in the above Korean putt-practicing device resides in that it is not used for measuring the backstroke distance of a putter while putt-practicing, and so the device is not used for practicing the control of putting strength of a user.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a device for putt-practice, which allows a user to preset a desired putting distance, and senses the backstroke distance of a putter during an act of putting in accordance with the preset putting distance, thus allowing the user to putt with a precise backstroke of the putter, and which senses the moving velocity of a putted ball during the act of putting to convert the sensed moving velocity into a moving distance of the putted ball prior to informing the user of the moving distance of the ball, thereby allowing the user to practice the putting while appropriately changing his/her putting strength in accordance with target putting distances.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a device for putt-practice, which has a foothold at a side thereof, with foot marks provided on the foothold for allowing a user to putt while appropriately changing his/her stance in accordance with a preset target putting distance, thus allowing the user to practice his/her putting stance in accordance with a desired putting distance.
In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a device for putt-practice, comprising: a first casing having a predetermined length and being opened at its-opposite ends, with a speed sensor provided at each end of the first casing and a ball inlet formed at one end of the first casing; and a second casing opened at its opposite ends and axially connected to an end of the first casing, with a transparent window provided at the upper portion of the second casing for guiding a backstroke movement of a putter during an act of putting, the second casing also having a displaying means for displaying a target putting distance preset by a user, a practical backstroke distance of the putter, and putting results after the act of putting.
In the device, a plurality of notch-marks, each having a sensor, are formed on the transparent window of the second casing.
The displaying means of the second casing comprises: a distance-setting button allowing the user to preset the target putting distance; a display window displaying the preset target putting distance and the practical backstroke distance of the putter; and a signal generator comparing the preset target putting distance with the practical backstroke distance, sensing a moving velocity of the putted ball during the act of putting, and converting the sensed moving velocity of the ball into a distance prior to generating a voice signal in the form of cheerful melody or alarm voice to inform the user of the putting results after the act of putting.
The device of this invention thus allows the user to perform a backstroke movement of the putter in accordance with the preset target putting distance, and senses the moving velocity of the putted ball to convert the moving velocity into a distance prior to informing the user of the moving distance. Therefore, the user practices the act of putting using the device of this invention while changing his/her putting strength in accordance with the target putting distance.